Best method would be to develop a system that would use a bullet press or loading press to swage the meplat open to accept the aluminum tip and then run that tipped bullet through a bullet ogive and meplat forming die to form the ogive and tip together for a clean flush fit. That however would not be cheap but would be by far the easiest to use and likely the method that offered the best results.

Obviously such a system could only be used with lead core bullets!!!

The difficulty with using a drill press will be in the initial set of for each bullet to keep the drill perfectly centered with the bullet. If you had to dial in the bullet for each drill process, it would take forever to convert bullets. The Lathe makes this much easier but not everyone has a lathe laying around to use!!!

I have not fine tuned my process to the point that every bullet tipped was up to our standards for tip straightness but from what I have done, I would say that it would take around an hour per 100 bullets with my current system to set up bullet, face off tip, drill core to accept aluminum tip, ream drill holeto 1-2 thou press fit for the tip post and then to press the tip into the bullet.

Again, nothing fine tuned and I suspect that it could be sped up even more then this but this is just an estimate from the limited work I have done so far.

With the situation lately trying to get HS Precision and Seekins DM systems to get customer projects finished, or should I say the LACK of these two DM systems to allow me to finish projects, $20 an hour is not looking to damn bad!!!

This is really getting old with some of these accessary component companies!!!

Keep up the great work Kirby, very interesting Thread for sure. It will be great to see what else you come up with here.

I just wish Sierra would get off their rears and put a good tip on their 300 gr SMK in 338 cal and even a good tip on a new 220 gr 30 cal bullet which would put them right back on top of the LR bullet ladder but apparently they have no desire to advance their line on the larger calibers......

Kirby...........What you are doing brings back a lot of memories! It can be a pretty involved process, but I think you are on the right track. When I started tipping bullets before tips were available, I extracted them from my Hornady 17 HMR bullets and used them. Of course I was also manufacturing the bullets which made life a little easier. My process was to partially form the ogive on the bullet and then drill a hole just deep enough into the lead to insert the tip stem. Iwould them place the bullet and tip back into the point forming die and put just enough pressure to close the lead and jacket around the tip. This took some trail and error to get just the right combination.
The first spitzers that I tried this on (8S) grouped twenty some inches higher at 950 yards than without tips and expansion was greatly improved.
I think it would be wise if you could cut the jacket to where it was slightly larger in diameter than the tips and then swage around it. If you could do this and leave a small void between the lead and tip (room for the lead to expand flush with the tip)when you swage, it would fit tightly. I realize that you are dealing with .200" base tips, so this limits you with what you can do with a bullet that is already manufactured. Maybe it is time for me to start selling bullets? I HAVE thought about it, but didn't know if I want to turn a fun hobby into a job If you wanted to, I could work with you on assembling once they are prepped (turned and drilled or punched), but I can only do .308"..............Rich
p.s. I DO HAVE some .175" brass tips that are really nice, and also, really spendy!

Kirby...........What you are doing brings back a lot of memories! It can be a pretty involved process, but I think you are on the right track. When I started tipping bullets before tips were available, I extracted them from my Hornady 17 HMR bullets and used them. Of course I was also manufacturing the bullets which made life a little easier. My process was to partially form the ogive on the bullet and then drill a hole just deep enough into the lead to insert the tip stem. Iwould them place the bullet and tip back into the point forming die and put just enough pressure to close the lead and jacket around the tip. This took some trail and error to get just the right combination.
The first spitzers that I tried this on (8S) grouped twenty some inches higher at 950 yards than without tips and expansion was greatly improved.
I think it would be wise if you could cut the jacket to where it was slightly larger in diameter than the tips and then swage around it. If you could do this and leave a small void between the lead and tip (room for the lead to expand flush with the tip)when you swage, it would fit tightly. I realize that you are dealing with .200" base tips, so this limits you with what you can do with a bullet that is already manufactured. Maybe it is time for me to start selling bullets? I HAVE thought about it, but didn't know if I want to turn a fun hobby into a job If you wanted to, I could work with you on assembling once they are prepped (turned and drilled or punched), but I can only do .308"..............Rich
p.s. I DO HAVE some .175" brass tips that are really nice, and also, really spendy!

Its always a difficult decision to take a hobby and turn it into a business. Its easy to love what your doing when you can do it and enjoy every minute of the successes as well as the failures of the process. I found that developing all of my wildcats. Often got just as much enjoyment out of things that did not work out as things that did work. When its your personal experimenting, its all fun and rewarding. When your back is up against the wall or when dealing with the VERY FEW members of the public that make life a bit more challenging then normal it can quickly take the enjoyment out of the process.

I would love to see you offer your bullets to us, that said, I also fully understand your concerns of what that may bring down the road. I am not sure if I will ever have the time to do this and offer enough to sell to the public. May be able to develop a kit that the customer could buy and do their own tipping at home but this raises a lot of issues as well as you well know.

Just need more time to figure it out and right now, do not have that so will have to wait for a later date.